Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-07-17
GREAT CROOKS.
ROMANTIC IDEAS DISPRLLgD BY AN OLD
CROOK.
The Skill and Courage Of Cracksnen Greatly Ex-
aggsratd-Crimss Not POftabls-Notsd
FOrgeS and Burglars.
PHILADELPHIA Zines.

read of great crimes sometimes, and hear
Of their perpetrators being tried, but the
facts sdduced in the trials and the punish
ments inflicted are ridiculously d~ispropor-
tionate to the offenses of which one hears
so much. There is a certain literature-or
is it hterature?-which purports to tell
about criminals. In reality it extols detec-
tives who exalt the qualities of the class
whose deeds they profess to detect. l have
been reading-and l suppose everybody has
been reading, tOo-abOutg great criminals in
the newspapers. The boastfulness of the
detective and the imagination OF the re-
porter have combined to make some inter
esting reading, but if you recall what you
have read you will find that very few great
criminals have been told about, and apart
from murders very few great crimes have
been committed. One or two professional
forgers, a half score of burglars, a cluster
of twenty-five confidence men, and the
whole list is exhausted. The fact is there
is no such army OF criminals fertile of
expedient, ready of device, watchful of
every chance to break in and steal, as the
police would have you believe. A great
many people are repeatedly dishonest, but
the professional burglar who ''bureles''
only for a living, the forger who contem-
plates Il second forgery before he expends
the profits Of his first, is a rare article, and
nine crimes out of ten against lprop-
erty are incidents or eddies ia the current
of life created by purely adyentitious cir
cumstances, and not part of the regular
flow of the stream, much rs they interfere
with and disturb it.
The detective will deny this, although
he knows it is true, and in his denial point
you to the careers of Sheridan, Porter,
Brady, Brockaway, Elliott and half a
dozen others who are distinguished in
crime. It's funny that some of them are
not paying the penalty OF their varied
w~ickednesses by long terms of imprison-
ment. The fact remains that they are not,
and either the detective can't convict OF
what he charges, or the criminal does hot
commit so freely as he is charged withal.
The latter Is the case. Jimmy Hope, who
aided in carrying of a fabulous number of
millions from the Manhattan Bank,
had to steal for a living within ten months
or work. He couldn't have had much out
of the great robbery. The Kenslngton
Bank burglars, who also got millions,
didn't profit much if their subsequent con-
dition is faithfully reported, for one or two
Of them were soon in prison for very trifing
offences and another died in great poverty
i'll a charity asylum. The fact OF it is
there is 40 such thing rs profitable roguery
or rObbery-by any of the means used
by the professional Crook" The reason
is not found in the fact that he is IMPROVE
dent or eXtravagant, or that his legal eX-
penses eat up his returns. lie simply
doesn't have any such ample returns as he
is credited with and which the police adver-
tise for him and the losers too frequently
and untruthfully clamor about.
l was looking over the criminal list the
other day of the convicted professionals
confined in New York State. They were
numerous enough, but their crimes were
contemptibly small. Tomake your Vidocq
you must have first your great criminal
and his great crime. The American Vidocq
makes himself, with these two essentials
left out; and having oppo' tunity to talk
with one of the alleged great criminals he
confirmed my belief in the visionary char
acter of these shrewd and clever rascals
with no greater effort than revealing his
own stupidity. i hunted up another, n
professional who has repeated his offenses
sufficiently to entitle him to any other dis
tinction than that Of an honest man. |
would mention that he wears stripes now,
except that it might draw from the value
of his statements in the minds Of some who
are two easily preiudiced. Anyway he is
better authority than the police, whose
vanity in their own capacity may be a
proper pride, but leads to som mighty tall
lying.
THE fact is that professional thieves and
rogues are not numerous in any locality,
and if crime were the sole souTce Of sup
port for the few hundreds that are 20
classed most of them would be hungry
many times every year. Men who steal
whenever they get a chance always have
some other occupation, and it is a fact that
the legitimate one is more profitable than
the illegitimate one in nine cases out of
ten" Thus began my informant, whose
name you may look for a little further Oh.
DuJ III lulS SllJ luttC ID - Naob aiih VI
professional criminals" / said; linen who
are classified and whose industries have
special forms, implying cunning and orig
inality."
my dear sir, you have been reading the
newspapers or talking to detectives. There
isn't a dozen. If really clever men-if
men witha modicum of brains that belong
to clever psople-were to devote their tai
ents to rOguery, society couldn't exist.
The methods employed by thieves, for ex-
ample, TO attain their ends look very cum
ming and we'll planned to one to whom
they are first revealed. But take any one
of them and examine it, aud you will see
how fimsy il is. A sneak thief wants to
get into the till Of a corner grocery. His
accomplice comes with a tape line and
begins to measure the sidewalk in front Of
the door, or TO measure the wall, or
comes in q g and begins to throw
out a lot of boxes. The grocer steps
out to INQUIRE; is held in conversation,
asked to hold the end of the measure
or pass back the boxes; the sneak is in and
away, and the trick is off. A saloon keeper
is known to keep a pocketbook stuffed
with money in the inner pocket OF his vest.
The pichpocket knows it is a difficult place
to touch. Two accomplices come in when
he is alone, both of them laughing hear
tily-one with a tape measure. Well,
that was a dead loss for me- says one.
Set 'em up" They laugh, ask the saloon
keeper to drink, and explain that they
were betting on the neighbor. The saloon
keeper becomes interested; the more so as
rounds are being called, and then the loser
wants to get even. A bottle of wine is
staked and the victim asked to measure,
the new bet being on his girth. Objection
is taken to the vest; off il comes, and the
sneak thief-s third party-soon has the
leather"
"Now, that's artful, certainly" said l..
mo such q thing; it il most transparent
and simple. 1t couldn't succeed were it
not that the victim is a fool. But these